Recipe | Baked Fried Brown Rice (Yes, baked fried rice!)

I love all the recipes I post, but there are some that I love a little more than others. And being the nerd that I am, usually the night before I have those recipes scheduled to go live, I can’t sleep. Because I’m just! so! excited! about them.

(Have I just totally embarrassed myself? Yes, probably.)

This is one of those posts. I’m really excited about this one, you guys. (And, sidenote, usually it’s the posts that I’m really excited about that are totally unpopular. So while I’m psyched about it, I’m fully prepared for you not to be. It’s okay! I’ll just be crying myself to sleep tonight. It’s okay!)

I made fried rice with brown rice. And I made it by baking it. Yes! I made baked fried rice! So really, it wasn’t even fried at all.

Making fried rice is fussy to begin with, even though it seems straight-forward and simple. You need the right kind of rice, it needs to be dry, and it needs to be a little old. And using brown rice throws another wrench into the whole process. I spent a lot of time working on a fried brown rice recipe and no matter what I tried, the results weren’t what I wanted. It tasted fine, but it didn’t have that chewy, crispy texture that a good fried rice has. Good fried rice–not the mall version that’s basically rice tossed with some soy sauce. That is not fried rice!

So I had an idea. Could I make baked fried rice? Would that work? I Googled it and found exactly one recipe for baked fried rice on two different websites, and it involved an onion soup packet. This was not what I was going for. So I would have to trailblaze! And it was going to be either a spectacular disaster or one of my greatest moments in the kitchen. One of these things.

I’m not fond of peas and carrots in my fried rice, so I added pineapple, cashews, and edamame instead. And then to add a little kick, I threw in some sriracha. Because I wanted it to dry out and not burn, I baked it at the relatively low temperature of 325 degrees. I also used less oil, which is another benefit to baked fried rice.

Guess what? It worked! Finally I had fried brown rice with that chewy, crispy texture I love so much. Although baked fried rice takes longer than fried fried rice, it’s not any more work–in fact, it’s probably a little bit less. I spent a good 20 minutes after dinner patting myself on the back for being so original and asking my husband, “Wasn’t that good? Wasn’t that so good? WASN’T DINNER SO GOOD?”

Then I Googled again just to confirm my originality and pat myself on the back some more. And there on page 2 of the search results was a recipe for baked fried rice. With cashews and pineapple. But it’s different! It’s fried first, then baked. So I can still pat myself on the back, right?

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine rice, green onions, pineapple, edamame, and cashews in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, soy sauce, and sriracha. Pour oil mixture over rice mixture and stir until well-combined.

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with oil or cooking spray. Pour rice onto sheet in an even layer. Bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring about every 20 minutes, or until rice is dry and just beginning to get crispy. Serve with additional soy sauce and sriracha, if desired.

I made this for my family tonight and they loved it. My husband thought is was fantastic and is looking forward to work tomorrow so he can have leftovers for lunch. The only thing I did differently was add broccoli and asparagus instead of soy, since we don’t eat that. I also cooked my rice (brown & black ) in veggie broth. It was fabulous, thank you.

Made this last night and it was awesome! The rice had that perfect, crispy fried rice texture and the pineapple/cashew/edamame combo was a fantastic mingling of flavors. Oh, and it was like the easiest ever weeknight dinner to prepare. Thanks so much!

I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. I have made it maybe half a dozen times. When I have them handy or remember to buy them I add mung bean sprouts while the rice is still hot. Adds a bit of moisture and even more texture. Either way this recipe is really good! Thanks again!

This is so good! I will admit to altering it a bit (I used mushrooms & carrots & no nuts) but I did the rest the same (oh & canned pineapple in pineapple juice is wonderful). I just love this recipe!!! Soooooo good!

This is such a great recipe! I work in a restaurant and one of the cooks made this a few months ago. I couldn’t stop snagging pieces of fantasticly chewy/crispy rice. I’m making it for supper tonight, with a few variations (gluten-free soy sauce and different veggies … And three times the amount of sriracha) and it smells amazing!! I can’t wait to eat it. Thanks!

I can’t wait to try it tomorrow. What is srirachi? I am sure I will be able to find it because I am only a short distance from Chinatown in Chicago. I am excited! Could I substitute something for the edemone (green bean)? I am sure my son won’t eat them. He is 31 and is just now starting to develop food allergies, especially lettuce and broccoli. I know he is not making this up because I have seen him when he eats those things. Funny thing is that most of the stuff he is allergic to is green and so I know he won’t take a chance with the rice, even though he could just take them out, he gets scared.

Sriracha is a sweet hot sauce. Most regular grocery stores sell it, so you shouldn’t have to go to Chinatown for it. 🙂 I know people have added mushrooms, carrots, and other veggies to this recipe, so you can substitute whatever your son can eat for the edamame.

I’ve made this recipe several times – though the ingredients vary each time. Thank you so much for this versatile recipe! I usually use Alton Brown’s recipe for baked brown rice, usually doubling the recipe for meals throughout the week. Your recipe is my favorite use of his brown rice. I like to add butternut squash to your recipe and whatever leftovers I need to get rid of. This recipe never disappoints. Thanks!

I love this idea!! I used quinoa instead and no pineapple as my husband does not care for it. I added broccoli and juice of half of an orange. It is really good. It is probably my favorite Pintetest recipe ever! 🙂 thanks for the inspiration!

I tried this recipe for the first time a week and a half ago and my family loved it. I now double it and have made it three times already. They never complain that I am feeding it too them too much and it is so easy to make.

I have been wanting to make this for months, but my husband hates cashews. He is out of town this week and I cannot wait to try it! Bought all the ingredients for it tonight and made a batch of brown rice earlier. So pysched! 🙂

This was an absolutely wonderful recipe! great idea to bake all the ingredients together.
Next time I make it I want to try scrambling a few eggs and mixing it in for the last 15 minutes of baking.
The variations you can introduce are endless – when I have a few too many veggie and rice left-overs, it’s time to make this again.

Ohhhh … you definitely doubted yourself for no reason here! I’m going to have a go at this sometime very soon … I’ll try to remember to let you know what I thought when I do. Brilliant idea … plus bonus that you can shove it in the oven and pretty much forget about it until it’s done!

Made this tonight, but added some braised tofu – it was delish! Love the super-low prep time. I actually had it divided between two pans and discovered that my dark coated non-stick baking sheet made the rice much crispier than my usually preferred uncoated light baking sheet. Thanks for the simple recipe:)

Made this for dinner tonight with cauliflower ‘rice’ (1/2 a cauliflowers worth) instead of brown rice and it worked out so well that there were no leftovers. I spread it over 2 cookie trays and cooked at 200*C for 30 minutes, stirring every 10. Also in the mix was corn, chili, green beans, peas, spring onions, cashews and 1tbs grated ginger. Thanks so much for posting this recipe, I would never have thought to oven bake fried rice or fried ‘rice’.

You’re a life saver because I always have leftover brown rice! Thank you for the recipe, I love how versatile it is and you can just throw in whatever vegetables are around the kitchen and it will still taste awesome. I’ve also made this with a combo of brown and wild rice, the wild rice came out extra crunchy – yum yum 🙂

Just loved this. So wonderful. We used a ton of veggies (mushrooms, peppers, cabbage–as well as your recommendations) and leftover rice from Chinese takeout (so, white) and it still had the lovely crunch and flavor. Thanks so much! It’s a keeper! Loving oh my veggies since we went totally vegetarian a couple of weeks ago, you have been a total life saver.

This is so wonderful. I lived downstairs in my daughter/son-in-laws house. I have a mini-kitchen with a full size frig, microwave, slow cooker and a Foreman grill. For Christmas, they gave me a table-top convection oven, so I’m expanding my meal opportunities. Fried rice can get expensive to order so I love the idea of being able to make my own. Thank you.

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